Written Answers Tuesday 21 November 2006

Scottish Executive

Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not aware of any significant costs having been incurred as a result of the act.

Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum which sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other costs to which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimates of the timescales over which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indication of the margins of uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separately such costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish administration, (b) local authorities and (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely available on the Scottish Parliament’s website.

  The Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001 was due to come into force on the 31 of December 2002, but the Debt Arrangement and Attachment Act 2002 came into force on 30 December 2002 and schedule 3, paragraph 27, repealed it.

  

 Financial Memorandum


 Executive
 Local Authorities
 Other


 Set Up
 Annual
 Set Up
 Annual
 Set Up
 Annual


 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0



  

 Actual


 Executive
 Local Authorities
 Other


 Set Up
 Annual
 Set Up
 Annual
 Set Up
 Annual


 Not applicable
 Not applicable
 Not applicable
 Not applicable
 Not applicable
 Not applicable

Baird Trust Reorganisation Act 2005

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Baird Trust Reorganisation Act 2005 were projected to be in the Estimate of Expense and Funding Statement accompanying the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: An Estimate of Expense and Funding Statement was not required to accompany the bill. The act follows a Private Bill and the Executive holds no information about any related costs incurred by the promoter of the bill since the act came into force.

Children's Services and Inspection of Social Work Services (Scotland) Act 2006

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Inspection of Social Work Services (Scotland) Act 2006 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) costs have been to date since the act came into force, in each category.

Robert Brown: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. No costs have been incurred as a result of the act.

Council of the Law Society of Scotland Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the member’s bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not aware of any significant costs having been incurred as a result of the act.

Crime

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has about what percentage of people on the National DNA database have been convicted of a crime.

Cathy Jamieson: On 10 November 2006, there were 204,141 criminal justice profiles obtained from arrested people registered on the Scottish DNA database. Of these, 99,770 (48.9%) are known to have been convicted of an offence as the profile is being held as a result of that conviction.

  The remainder of profiles are held while current criminal proceedings are still on-going. Under current legislation, the profiles of these individuals will be removed from the database, and no records kept, if a decision is subsequently taken not to pursue the criminal proceedings, or the proceedings conclude with the individual not being convicted. Data on whether these individuals have previous convictions is not recorded when they are entered on the database.

Crime

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many people who had not been convicted of a criminal offence at the time their records were placed on the National DNA database have subsequently been convicted of a crime.

Cathy Jamieson: The information is not available, as data on whether individuals have previous convictions is not recorded when they are entered on the database.

Drug Misuse

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been arrested for drug driving in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) age group and (b) local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: Information on the number of arrests made by the police is not held centrally, only the number of crimes recorded. Furthermore, figures for driving offences involving drugs alone are not available. Finally, no information about the age of the accused is held centrally.

  The following table, therefore, gives the number of drunk or drug-driving offences (including those involving the refusal to provide a test or sample) recorded by the police in each local authority area since 1999-2000.

  Number of Relevant Driving Offences1 Recorded by the Police, Broken Down by Local Authority Area, 1999-2000 to 2005-06

  

 
 1999-2000
 2000-01
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06


 Aberdeen City
 160
 112
 123
 154
 170
 182
 136


 Aberdeenshire
 98
 97
 104
 103
 83
 120
 129


 Angus
 43
 46
 67
 49
 55
 63
 105


 Argyll and Bute
 61
 54
 55
 85
 65
 79
 63


 Clackmannanshire
 26
 23
 17
 26
 19
 22
 39


 Dumfries and Galloway
 45
 83
 58
 78
 55
 84
 80


 Dundee
 143
 137
 163
 152
 131
 88
 82


 East Ayrshire
 67
 62
 88
 68
 70
 73
 79


 East Dunbartonshire
 47
 53
 35
 41
 37
 52
 49


 East Lothian
 39
 30
 28
 32
 36
 21
 23


 East Renfrewshire
 39
 31
 23
 40
 37
 23
 33


 Edinburgh, City of
 274
 211
 194
 228
 196
 157
 221


 Eilean Siar
 17
 23
 20
 17
 24
 22
 24


 Falkirk
 71
 76
 121
 101
 86
 78
 84


 Fife
 171
 174
 189
 214
 234
 166
 160


 Glasgow City
 669
 689
 627
 637
 624
 590
 592


 Highland
 162
 149
 203
 192
 175
 185
 169


 Inverclyde
 46
 48
 75
 83
 62
 58
 62


 Midlothian
 50
 23
 41
 31
 45
 26
 38


 Moray
 39
 37
 48
 59
 40
 52
 39


 North Ayrshire
 62
 75
 64
 63
 59
 69
 78


 North Lanarkshire
 215
 233
 213
 229
 211
 191
 205


 Orkney Islands
 7
 9
 6
 5
 11
 10
 12


 Perth and Kinross
 62
 97
 81
 92
 74
 112
 106


 Renfrewshire
 108
 105
 122
 114
 128
 92
 100


 Scottish Borders
 48
 51
 23
 37
 39
 40
 49


 Shetland Islands
 6
 7
 1
 13
 7
 5
 16


 South Ayrshire
 53
 81
 58
 72
 57
 51
 60


 South Lanarkshire
 198
 188
 175
 185
 176
 133
 169


 Stirling
 43
 66
 61
 62
 51
 46
 51


 West Dunbartonshire
 71
 73
 82
 83
 88
 73
 66


 West Lothian
 102
 105
 140
 113
 82
 85
 108


 Total
 3,279
 3,248
 3,305
 3,458
 3,227
 3,048
 3,227



  Note: 1. Offences included are:

  Driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.

  In charge of a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.

  Failure to co-operate with a preliminary test.

  Failure to provide a specimen at a police station.

  Offences specifically excluded are:

  Driving motor vehicle with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit.

  In charge of motor vehicle while blood alcohol content above limit.

Drug Misuse

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are applied in testing for drug driving at the side of the road.

Cathy Jamieson: Policy and legislation on driving whilst under the influence of drugs is reserved. The police have powers under the Road Traffic Act 1988, as amended by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 to require suspects to provide samples for roadside testing for the presence of drugs and to participate in tests designed to help officers to reach a judgement whether that person may be impaired. The police must administer such tests in accordance with a code of practice issued by The Secretary of State for Transport in December 2004. The code of practice is available via the following link:

  http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-and-publications/publication/operational-policing/Code_of_practice_order.pdf?view=Binary.

Emergency Services

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what preparatory costs are associated with the introduction of the new state-of-the-art digital radio system for the emergency services announced in April 2006.

Johann Lamont: On current plans, it is expected that Firelink – the new radio system for the GB Fire and Rescue Service announced by the Minister for Justice on 6 April 2006 – will be fully implanted in Scotland by mid-February 2009. It is currently estimated that the costs to Scotland for participation in Firelink up to the end of financial year 2008-09 will be around £41.4 million. In addition, individual fire and rescue services will require to make staff available to assist with implementation of, and for training on, the new system.

Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) costs have been to date since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The act came into force in May 2006. Actual costings are not therefore available yet.

Fire (Scotland) Act 2005

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum accompanying the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. Much of the work relating to the projected annual costs is still in progress. Comparable figures for actual costs are not therefore available yet.

Industry

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it first learned of Solectron’s plans to close its factory in Dunfermline.

Nicol Stephen: We were first made aware of possible job losses at the facility on 13 October 2006. We were made formally aware of the company’s intention to close the facility on 27 October 2006.

Junior Doctors

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the drop-out rate among junior doctors has been in each year since 1999.

Andy Kerr: Junior doctor in this context is taken to mean those in pre-registration house officer (PRHO), foundation training year 1 and 2, senior house officer (SHO) and specialist registrar (SpR) posts.

  Information is not held centrally on drop out rates for all junior doctors. However, attrition rates for specialist registrars (SpRs) are held and are shown in the following table. Attrition rates refer to those who permanently leave an SpR post in Scotland without achieving a Certificate of Completion of Training.

  Table 1: SpR Attrition Rate 1999-2000 to 2004-05 for all Medical Specialties

  

 
 1999-2000
 2000-01
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04
 2004-05


 All Medical Specialties
 3.5%
 3.0%
 2.2%
 2.7%
 2.9%
 3.5%



  Within the National Workforce Planning Framework, medical training numbers are established to ensure there is sufficient supply to meet the future demands of NHSScotland for trained doctors. Posts that become vacant are re-filled on a rolling basis.

Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many electronic tagging devices have been tampered with by prisoners in each year of operation of electronic monitoring and what the procedures and timescales are for companies that monitor such devices to report to the appropriate authorities.

Cathy Jamieson: Since the introduction of Home Detention Curfew for prisoners on 3 July 2006 there have been 149 instances of equipment tampers recorded at the electronic monitoring centre. Of these, seven were concluded to have been intentional tampers and reports were sent to the relevant prison. Reports on intentional equipment tampers must be sent to the prison within 24 hours of the tamper being notified. Details of the processes to be followed by the electronic monitoring company can be found in the statement of service requirements to the electronic monitoring contract at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/12142705/0.

Mental Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cognitive behaviour therapists there are in Scotland, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally.

Ministerial Visits

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministerial visits to the Scottish Borders have been made in each year since 1999 by (a) Robert Brown MSP, (b) Ross Finnie MSP, (c) George Lyon MSP, (d) Euan Robson MSP, (e) Tavish Scott MSP, (f) Iain Smith MSP, (g) Nicol Stephen MSP and Jim Wallace MSP.

The Executive have supplied the following corrected answer:

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is shown in the following table. The information identified in the table has been gathered from the various Ministerial Private Offices and is as complete as our records allow. Different Private Offices record and retain information in different ways, which is perfectly acceptable for our business purposes, but does not allow us to easily extract the information requested.

  

 Minister
 Title
 Visits


 Robert Brown
 Deputy Minister for Education and Young People
 2


 Ross Finnie
 Minister for Environment and Rural Development
 20


 George Lyon
 Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business
 1


 Euan Robson
 Deputy Minister for Education and Young People
 18


 Tavish Scott
 Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform
 2


 Tavish Scott
 Minister for Transport
 2


 Nicol Stephen
 Deputy First Minister
 1


 Nicol Stephen
 Minister for Transport
 2


 Jim Wallace
 Deputy First Minister
 10


 Total
 58

National Galleries of Scotland Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the National Galleries of Scotland Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Patricia Ferguson: The National Galleries of Scotland Act 2003 followed a Private Bill introduced by the Board of Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. As such, a Financial Memorandum was neither required as part of the legislative process nor prepared. The Executive has no direct locus in the Parliamentary procedures for Private Bills and holds no information about any costs incurred in relation to this act.

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2004

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2004 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not aware of any costs having been incurred as a result of the act.

National Insurance Contributions

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Independent): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25291 by Mr Andy Kerr on 14 May 2002, what the financial impact was of the 2002 increase in employers’ national insurance contributions on (a) Scottish Enterprise, (b) Highlands and Islands Enterprise and (c) each local enterprise company in each year since 2002-03.

Nicol Stephen: The answer to S1W-25291 was that the impact on organisations like Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise would be roughly 1% of the pay bill. The pay costs of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are set out in their annual accounts.

  Copies of the annual accounts for the years requested and are available on the respective websites at: www.scottish-enterprise.com, and www.hie.co.uk.

Police and Fire Services (Finance) (Scotland) Act 2001

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Police and Fire Services (Finance) (Scotland) Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not aware of any costs having been incurred as a result of the act.

Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Andy Kerr: The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum which sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other costs to which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimates of the timescales over which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indication of the margins of uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separately such costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish Administration, (b) local authorities and (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely available on the Scottish Parliament’s website.

  By way of comparable information actual initial set up cost and annual costs for the year 2005-06 in the same categories as the Financial Memoranda is as follows.

  

 Actual


 Executive
 Local Authorities
 Other


 Set Up
 Annual
 Set up
 Annual
 Set up
 Annual


 17 million
 623.7 million
 Nil
 Nil
 Nil
 Nil

Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Act 2001

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Rhona Brankin: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not aware of any additional costs having been incurred as a result of the act.

Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Rhona Brankin: A consolidation bill does not require to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum and none was prepared. No costs have been incurred as a result of the act.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, following the previous Lord Advocate’s decision in August 2001 to take no criminal proceedings against the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) experts in respect of their misidentification of the Shirley McKie fingerprint, those experts were granted immunity from prosecution or whether it would be possible to commence prosecution of the same experts for this misidentification if new evidence became available.

Elish Angiolini QC: The decision not to take proceedings against the four SCRO officers who identified print Y7 as being that of Shirley McKie, made by the Lord Advocate in 2001, is final and it would not be possible to prosecute these officers at any point in the future in relation to their identification of Y7.

  The finality of the decision is not, however, as a result of immunity granted by the Crown – no such immunity has been granted. The decision is final because, in Scots Law, when a decision to take no proceedings has been intimated by the Crown to a person against whom a criminal allegation has been made, the Crown are held to it, and such intimation will usually constitute a bar to any proceedings thereafter.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any experts employed in the Scottish Fingerprint Service have been granted immunity from prosecution and, if so, which experts have this immunity.

Elish Angiolini QC: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29649 on 21 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  No expert employed within the Scottish Criminal Record Office has been granted immunity from prosecution and if the conduct of any expert witness appeared to constitute a criminal offence, it would be fully investigated and, if appropriate, criminal proceedings instigated.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its response to sportscotland’s National Audit of Sports Facilities in Scotland.

Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26568 on 7 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  In fulfilling their statutory responsibilities, it is for local authorities to consider the five areas highlighted in the Audit’s Planning for the Future. The Executive through sportscotland stands ready to assist local authorities and future funding will be committed to facilities that clearly sit within a local authority’s sport strategy.

Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum accompanying the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The provisions in the act that would lead to costs being incurred have still to be implemented. Comparable actual costings are not therefore available yet.

Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Johann Lamont: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. No additional costs have been incurred as a result of the act.

War Veterans

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a budget allocation for commemorating Scotland’s war veterans and, if so, what this has been in each year since 1999.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive does not have a dedicated budget allocation for veterans commemorations. However, we are happy to consider requests for financial support for veterans commemorations on a case-by-case basis. My answer to question S2W-27577 on 21 August 2006, provides details of the funding allocated to such commemorations in each year since 1999.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

War Veterans

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on recognising war veterans in each year since 1999.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27577 on 21 August 2006, which gives details of the funding provided by the Executive since 1999 to recognize and commemorate war veterans.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

War Veterans

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can commission any medal in respect of the Scottish Arctic convoys and, if so, whether it will consider commissioning such a medal.

Malcolm Chisholm: Matters concerning the commissioning of medals for military service are reserved, initially, to the Ministry of Defence, and Scottish ministers have no locus to intervene in the these decisions.

  In recognition of service in the Arctic during the Second World War, the UK Government has specially commissioned the Arctic Emblem to commemorate the service of Merchant Seamen and members of the Armed Forces in the Arctic Region between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945.

War Veterans

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Ministry of Defence in respect of a medal for Arctic convoy survivors and whether it considers that the Arctic Convoy Badge is an appropriate recognition of the bravery of the men and women on those convoys.

Malcolm Chisholm: Matters concerning the commissioning of medals for military service are reserved, initially, to the Ministry of Defence, and Scottish ministers have no locus to intervene in these decisions. The Executive has not made any representations to the Ministry of Defence with respect to an Arctic Convoy Medal.

  The Arctic Emblem represents tangible recognition in the form of something that can be worn as a unique, recognized addition to medals by those men who served in the Arctic regions and who were often subjected to especially dangerous circumstances including extreme weather conditions and determined resistance from German forces.

Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the act came into force, in each category.

Rhona Brankin: The Financial Memorandum to the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The only costs incurred up to the end of 2005-06 that are attributable directly to the provisions in the act have fallen on the running costs of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. These costs amounted to some £3.8 million in 2005-06. The provisions in the act that would result in costs falling on other organisations only came into force in April this year. Annual costs falling on these organisations are not therefore available yet.